Caregiving, approval, and family functioning in families with an adolescent mother.

Abstract

This study tested the Adolescent Family Assessment Model, using a descriptive correlational design. The model describes the relationships between caregiving behaviors, caregiving knowledge, peer and family approval, and the outcome variable of family functioning. Social exchange theory and social learning theory guided the study. Model building procedures involved replicated testing with data from two samples: Anglo and Mexican American adolescent mothers. The subjects were 50 Anglo and 64 Mexican American adolescent mothers living in the southwest, nineteen years of age or less, who had not yet completed their high school education, and were living in the same household as their child. Family was operationalized for both the family of origin and the current family unit of the adolescent mother. Eighty-three percent (N = 94) of the sample were enrolled in teen parent programs. Four instruments were tested and used to measure the concepts: the Infant Caregiving Inventory (alpha =.93); Smilkstein's Family Apgar (alpha =.90); the Peer Approval Instrument (alpha =.73); and the Family Approval Instrument (alpha =.83). Results for Anglo mothers indicated that caregiving behavior was explained by single marital status (R² =.22). Family functioning was explained by the age of the adolescent's first child (R² =.11). The empirical Mexican American model differed from the Anglo model. Caregiving knowledge was explained by past experience caring for toddlers (R² =.14), while family functioning was explained by caregiving behavior (R² =.10). The variables function differently in Mexican American and Anglo families, reflecting the cultural value of family within the groups. Results offer direction to health care providers working with adolescent parents and for future research endeavors.